Florence Boulevard design concept report advances to Planning Commission; downtown lane option deferred

City staff and consultants introduced the final draft of the Florence Boulevard design concept report and told the council the plan will go to the Planning Commission for a public hearing this week and return to City Council for formal consideration on April 7.

Paul Theis, city staff, said the report responds to prior recommendations from an Urban Land Institute (ULI) technical assistance panel and the citizen‑approved General Plan. “We would like to brief council on what we call the final draft of the Florence Boulevard design concept report,” Theis said, describing the document as an implementation step that carries forward the general plan’s downtown land‑use recommendations.

The report divides the roughly four‑mile corridor into three segments: the freeway zone (I‑10 to Hennis), the Midtown zone (Hennis to Brown) and the downtown zone (Brown to Arbor). Consultants presented design elements for each segment — lighting, stamped pavement at intersections, dedicated pedestrian areas, landscaping, public art, signage and separated bike lanes where right‑of‑way permits — and showed illustrative before‑and‑after images.

For the downtown segment the report presents two options: Option A retains the existing five‑lane cross section (two through lanes each direction plus a center turn lane); Option B reduces the downtown segment to a three‑lane roadway (one through lane each direction plus a center turn lane) to free pavement width for wider sidewalks, separated bike lanes, landscaping and added on‑street parking. Jeff Vasquez of J2, the consultant team, characterized the overall plan as “supposed to be transformative” and detailed how the lanes, sidewalks and bike facilities would differ under each option.

City traffic modeling and consultant review found a three‑lane configuration could handle anticipated traffic in the downtown segment, the presenters said; staff emphasized no final choice on downtown lanes would be made at this briefing. The DCR keeps both options in the report so the city can make a lane‑configuration decision later in the civil design phase after additional traffic study and public engagement.

Staff said they expect to pursue the freeway zone (east end) as the first implementation segment, where right‑of‑way is less constrained and room exists for wider sidewalks, separated bike lanes and a 6‑lane configuration near the interstate if warranted. The downtown segment faces right‑of‑way constraints and existing encroachments (for example, building facades and parking lots that sit on or into the public right‑of‑way), which limit how much sidewalk, landscaping and bike lanes can be added without property owner agreement.

Next steps spelled out in the presentation: the Planning Commission public hearing, a City Council adoption request on April 7, followed by civil design, additional stakeholder engagement for each implementation segment, and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funding decisions for construction. Staff said they plan to build gateway signs on both corridor ends as an early, lower‑cost element to advance the corridor identity.

Dwayne Atell showed a short demonstration of an interactive web map and AI‑assisted engagement tool the city plans to use during the civil design and public outreach phases. Presenters asked council for guidance on final revisions prior to the Planning Commission hearing.